Speculation of the big four firm’s restructuring has been going on for some time as conflicts between the auditing business and advisory arm are thought to prevent greater growth.

Frank O’Keeffe, managing partner of EY Ireland, told The Irish Times that the Irish practice of 120 partners and 3,600 employees and its fee income would be split 45 per cen to 55 per cent between the two sides of the business.

EY Ireland launched a legal practice, led by Alan Murphy, just under a year ago.

EY’s global boss Carmine Di Sibio has estimated its consulting division could bring in an additional $5 billion to $10 billion once liberated from conflicts of interest.

Mr Di Sibio said leaders of EY’s 15 largest members unanimously agreed to move ahead with the plan and take it to a partner vote, the Financial Times reports.

Should the partners approve the plan, the audit business would remain in the current partnership structure and the advisory business would be reformed into a separate entity.

The plan estimates up to seven per cent and 18 per cent annual growth could be achieved for the audit and advisory companies respectively.

Other big four rivals have so far denied any rumours of similar break-up plans. Earlier this year Deloitte’s CEO, Punit Renjen, tweeted: “Recent media reports stating Deloitte is exploring plans to separate our organization are categorically untrue. As stated previously, we remain committed to our current business model.”